Garment buckle



v Jul 1, 1930. s, Y, RE TER 1,769,753

GARMENT BUCKLE Filed March 11, 1927 v 33) AW Gum/14 v I Patented July 1,1%30 SARA YANCEY REUTEB, OF NEW YORK, N.

GA MENT BUCKLE Application filed March 11, 1927. Serial No. 174,507.

My invention relates to garment fasteners and more particularly to suchfasteners when applied to shoulder straps.

boulder straps on womens underwear 5 are usually sewed unto the garmentand, if soiled or rumpled, must be ripped off to be replaced by freshstraps which againmust be sewed unto the garment. Furthermore,

the shoulder straps often have to be adj Listed, namely, lengthened orshortened, in accordance with the dress worn over the undergarment, andsuch adjustment can not be made when the straps are sewed on.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby shoulderstraps may be en 'ily removed and interchanged without sewing. Anotherobject is to enable one to lengthen or shorten the straps withoutdetachin them from the garment and without removing'the garment, i. e.the adjustment may be made on the person wearing it. Other objects willbecome apparentfrom the detailed description which follows.

Referring to the drawing, Figures 1 to 5 are front views of severalforms of my invention. Figure 6 isa cross section of the form shown inFigure 5 taken along the line 66. Figure 7 is a cross section of theform shown in Figure 1, with a shoulder strap in position. Figure 8 is asimilar cross section of the forms shown in Figures 2 and 3.

My device maybe'described as a buckle or garment clip and it may be madeof coinparatively stiff wire, as in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5, or stampedout of sheet metal, as in Figure 4-.

When wire is used, I prefer to shape the wire to form threesubstantially;parallel bars 1, 1, 1, two of which have open ends. Thus,in Figure 1, the outer bars 1 and 1" are open, while in Figures 2 and 3,the mid dle bar 1 and oneof the'outer bars are. open. at one end. I hebars are properly spaced to allow a ribbon or strap to pass betweenthem, the spacing being effected in various; ways of which theillustrations given in the drawing serve as good examples. Thus, i'iFigure 1, the spacing of the bars is plished by the formation of loops2, th central portionwhereof, 3, is fialft led an provided with holes 4t irough which a needle and thread may be passed to sew the buckleuntothe garment. In'Figure 2, the loops 2, 2 are-smaller and closed,providing the necessary holes i for the same purpose as that of theholes 4 in Figure 1.

The openings in the bars need not be located at their ends but may bearranged to be at any other convenient place, as, for instance at thecenters of the bars, such an arrangement being shown in Figure 4. Nor doI intend to have the invention confined to an arrangement three bars,since, obviously, more than three parallel bars maybe employed.Furthermore, while I prefer to 5 have openings in two of the three bars,I may also use an arrangement wherein only one bar has such an opening.The purpose of the opening is to enable one to slip the ribbon or strapinto the space between two '70 consecutive bars, which operation becomesdiflicultwhen all the bars are closed and the buckle is sewed on agarment. One opening of this kind will facilitate the operation, to someextent, while two openings in the case of three bars will be generallypreferable. The number of openings should be increased with the numberof bars.

It will be seen that at leasttwo of the barsare fixedly connected to, anadjacent 3 bar at one end. In the case of'three bars, two of thern'areso connected to the third one at one end. Thus, in Figures 1 and 5, theouter bars 1 and 1 are fixedly connected to the central bar 1 at oneend, by means he of the corresponding end loops, the bar 1', in Figure5, being, in addition, removably connected to the second end loop. InFigures 2 and 3, the outer barl and the central bar 1 are each fixedlyconnected to the sec- 50 end outer bar 1 at one end each, by means ofthe corresponding end loop. In Figure l, as in Figures 1 and 5, thesplit portions of the bars 1 and 1 are each fixedly eonnected to thecentral bar 1 at one end only, "through the end connections of thebuckle.

To counteract the possibility of an execs sive tendency of the bars tocome'together under the pull exerted by a strap, as will be c ear afterthe operation of the device is ex- "30 buckle out of sheet metal.

plained, I may form the loops 2 as in Figure 3, i. e. give the loops atdouble turn, as is bein done in safety pins, whereby the open end barshave a tendency to spread outward until pulled into parallelism by theaction of the strap under tension.

I my also rovide my buckle with a snap catch, such, E)! instance, as isshown at 5 in Figures 5 and 6, whereby the open end of a bar may beclosed after the ribbon or stra is in position. In these figures, such acatc is shown only for the bar 1", but, ohviously, I may provide asimilar closing for the bar 1.

Instead of using wire, I may stamp the In Figure 4, is shown such abuckle. The openings in the bars 1 and 1" are shown in the middle ofeach bar this form being preferred in the case of sheet metal, although,of course, the openings maybe made at other points, as he'reinbeforementioned. in Figure 4, the loops 2 are replaced by the and pieces 2.

To avoid rusting and discoloration, the buckle may be enameled or madeof rust proof material, or it may be covered with any'suitable material.The end pieces or hope 2, which project beyond the bars, may beornamented, if desired.

The application of my buckle or clip in practice will now be brieflyexplained.

Having reference, first, to Figures 1 and 7, the buckle or clip is sewedunto the gar- #6 went by passing a thread through the holes tondencunder the bar 1 and over the bar 1'.

4 in the end pieces or loops 2. To attach the strap to the garment, theloose end 7 of the strap is first slipped sidewise into the spacebetween the bars 1 and 1', passing Next, through the opening at the endof bar 1", the loose end of the strap is slipped sidewise into the spacebetween the bars 1' and 1', folded around the bar 1 and, again, slippedsidewise under the bar 1 through the opening at the end thereof, foldedover the bar 1 and, finally allowed to loosely fall, concealing1 thebars. The pull on the strap, from w 'ch the garment now hangs, will bein the direction of the arrow in Figure 7. The strap will hold fastbecause of the snubbing effect due to the winding path around the bars.The harder one pulls, the faster does the strap hold in the clip. Thesnubbing effect is enhanced by the tendenc of the open end bars to bedrawn to.- get r. To counteract this tendency, if excessive, as, forinstance, when the wire is not sufiiciently stiff, I may use the form ofdevice illustrated in Figure 3, the spring effect of the loops 2 in thiscase opposing the of the bars to be drawn together. strap iscomparatively thick, and

When t the snubbing effect is sufficient to hold the it? pos tionagainst any pull, the form In the form shown of device illustrated inFigure 4, wherein the bars have little, if any, resiliency in the planeof the buckle, will be found to meet all the needs of the occasion.

The modus operandi in the case where the middle bar is open (Figures 2,3) will be obvious from the foregoing, the modification of procedurebeing clear from Figure 8.

To adjust the length of the strap in all cases, one only has to pull itloose from the barswhen there is no tension on the strap, which may bereadily done, and move the strap in one or the other direction until thestrap is of desired length, after which a pull on the strap will againcause it to become fast in the buckle.

I claim:

1. A buckle adapted for the passage of a ribbon therethrough comprisinga plurality of substantially parallel members and means for holding saidmembersin spaced relation to one another fixedly connecting at least twoof said members to an adjacent member at one end only, said ineansbeing.sufliciently resilient to permit some or all of said members to bedrawn together to the limit allowed by the thickness of said ribbon.

2. A buckle adapted for the passage of a ribbon therethrough comprisingthree substantially parallel members and means for holding said membersin spaced relation to one another fixedly connecting two of said membersto the third one at one end only, said means being sufiicientlyresilient to permit at least two of said members to be drawn togetherinto contact with the intervening portion of said ribbon.

3. uckle comprising, a plurality of at least three substantiallyparallel bars between which a ribbon may be passed, and resilient meansfor spacing said bars, said spacing and the resilienc of said meansbeing such as to permit sait bars to be drawn together to the limitallowed by the thickness of said ribbon.

4. A buckle comprising three bars between which a ribbon may be passed,and means for holding said bars spaced substantially parallel to oneanother, said means being sufiiciently resilient to permit some or allof said bars to be drawn together into contact with the interveningportion of said ribbon.

5. A buckle adapted for the passage of a ribbon therethrough, comprisingthree substantially parallel bars, means fixedly connecting at least oneof said bars to an adjacent bar at one end only for holding said bars inspaced relation to one another, and means for separably connecting saidlast mentioned bars at the other end, said spacing means beingsufiiciently resilient to per- Wit some of said bars to be drawn together into contact with the intervening portion of said ribbon.

6. A buckle adapted to be attached to a piece of fabric, comprising aplurality of substantially parallel members for the passage of a ribbontherethrough, means connecting said members except for an opening acrossat least one of them for resiliently holding said members in spacedrelation to one another, and means for securing said buckle to saidfabric at said spacing means.

7. A buckle for the passage of a ribbon therethrough and adapted to beattached to a piece of fabric made of a single piece of wire bent toform three substantially parallel bars for the passage of a ribbontherethrough, the ends of said wire being open when said ribbon ispassed between said bars, and means for securing said buckle to saidfabric at the bends of said wire.

8. A buckle made of a single piece of wire formed into threesubstantially parallel bars, the ends of said wire being open, and meansfor separably closing one of said ends.

9. A buckle made of a single piece of wire formed into threesubstantially parallel bars'fixedly connected by cross members butleaving the ends of said wire open, and a separable connection betweenat least one of said ends and the adjoining one of said cross members.

10. The combination with a strap to be attached to a garment, of abuckle for the passage of said strap therethrough comprising a pluralityof substantially parallel members, means for holding said members inspaced relation to one another fixedly connecting at least two of saidmembers to an adjacent member at one end only, means for separablyconnecting at least one pair of the last mentioned adjacent members atthe other end, and means for securing said buckle to said garment atsaid spacing means.

11. The combination with a strap to be attached to a garment, of abuckle for the passage of said strap therethrongh comprising threesubstantially parallel bars, means fixedly connecting all but twoends ofsaid bars,said end connecting means being adapted to resiliently holdsaid bars in spaced relation to one another, and means for securing saidbuckle to said garment at said connecting means.

12. A bucklemade of a slngle piece of wire formed into three parallelbars and two substantially complete end loops fixedly connecting two ofsaid bars to the third one, each at one end only, said loopsconstituting means for attaching said buckle to a. garment.

13. A buckle made of a single piece vof wire formed into three parallelbars and

